Ben Folds leaks “fake” album

While most artists are going to ever-more-fanatical lengths in order to prevent their albums leaking online, you can trust Ben Folds to find his own idiosyncratic way around it. Instead of waiting around for someone else to do it, the singer-humourist has leaked his forthcoming album, Way To Normal, with the help of some interweb-savvy mates.

However, the songs he’s let loose to file-sharing networks are “fakes” recorded during a late-night studio session in Dublin this July. And, as you’d expect, he had a hell of a time cooking them up.

“You see so many rock bands in the studio and it’s serious, serious business,” Folds gleefully revealed to Rolling Stone. “They got the making-of camera up their ass the whole time and they’re on the BlackBerry the other half of the time. I just think that we all need to remember how to have fun.”

Despite their disposability, the man has become somewhat attached to his bogus ditties. “I may be on crack, but I think if that was half the real record, it’d be good. Everyone I know keeps wanting to put it in and play it. We’re all not honest these days about the way we listen to music. It all has to have context. I think some people hate it because they were told it was a joke. In the end people got free songs and we had something to do on July 11.”